My research is in the field of infectious disease and has focused on viral immunology and immunopathology. We have mainly studied herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in mice both with a view to devising successful vaccines and more particularly to determine how HSV causes tissue damage in critical tissues such as the eye and nervous system. We have worked on both host innate and adaptive immune mechanisms, particularly the T cells responsible for immunity as well as those involved in orchestrating tissue damage. We have defined the role of several subtypes of proinflammatory T cells as well as numerous cytokines and chemokines. Our group was the first to show a role of regulatory T cells (Treg) in the host response to a virus infection. We demonstrated that Treg responses could act to inhibit the efficiency of immunity, but that Treg were valuable to modulate the severity of immunopathological responses, such as those that occur in the corneal stroma after HSV infection of the eye.